With this series Lara Mennes continues her research towards memories that can be found in buildings. She photographed three desolate buildings. She raises questions about the significance of these ruins today and what they symbolise. The naked architecture, forgotten objects ... the pictures only show what remains. And also that which is absent, the things people thought were important enough to take away. These are elements of little importance, mere traces of human activity; they caught Mennes' attention precisely because of their suggestive value. Footprints on dusty floors, worn out tiles, curled photographs, lonely posters on a wall ... each resident, in turn, added multiple layers of meaning. They are all silent witnesses of a bygone time. As windows on the past, they carry us back through time to the origins of the building. Lara Mennes' pictures are still lives in which objects transcend their physical appearance: they become manifestations of memories. Her images have a dreamy quality which contains the sensible. The pictures are accessible for new interpretations and meanings. The traces of the past create a blind spot or hors-champ. In the moment in which the photo is fixated, a crack is installed: the fixated point is opened and a space is created. 1 The remaining elements are silent witnesses of a (personal) past and the dealing with the changing society. Abandoned buildings as the difficult relation of people towards history.